birch



v EastGreenbush,in `the county of Rensselaer.

NITE'D .STATES l-ATENTA Omen. i, a

GEoEGEA. BIRCH, oE EAsT GEEENBUsH, NEW YORK.

sNow-scRApl-:a

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,620, dated February 19, 18784.

I Application iiledJanuary 11,1884. (No model.) A

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. BIRCH, of

and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Snow-Scrapers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of vsnow-Scrapers` that is known as the fire-board" scraper, and is .used for the purpose of removing snow ,from a field of ice preparatory to the operation of harvesting the ice for storing; and the object of my improvements is to increase the effectivenessof the apparatus in the operations of scraping snow from the surface of the ice, and facilitating the operations of transporting and dumping the snow that is collected on the scraper. I attain this object by means of the construction illustrated in the .accompanying drawings, which form ypart of this specication, and in which e Figure l is a side elevation of my scraper' with theseveral parts in position for the opratus from place to place while carrying aload eration of scraping; Fig. 2, a plan view of the same; Fig. 3, a vertical section at line x x of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 an end elevation of amodiiied construction of the face -board of the scraper.

As represented in the drawings, .A is the face-board of the scraper, which may be made of any required size. Said face-boardis beveled on the under side of its foremostI edge, and is provided at that point with a metallic scraping-shoe, a@ End pieces, a', and a back piece, a2, are secured to the upper surface of said face-board for the purpose of adapting it Y for carrying an accumulated load of snow; and thevrunners B (or, when preferred, the wheels B', as shown in Fig. 4) are secured to' the underside of .said face-board for the purpose of facilitating the removal. of the appaof snow. The face-board A is pivoted, by means of pins or bolts c inserted through the end pieces, a', to a pair of independent runners, C, on which the apparatus is carried from place to place while unloaded. The` runners C are connected together 4by means of a cross-bar, c', which is secured to the forward ends of them.

D is a pole, to which horses are attached in the usual manner for the purpose vof drawing the apparatus. Said pole is provided with branching armsLd, which engage with jointplates a3, secured to the upper surface of the face-board A for -the purpose of forming a board. A stay-piece, d', thatris -secured to the 4upper side of the pole D and arms d, gives stability to the latter. A longitudinal c in such manner that, while the said crossbar hasV ample room tov move freely without restricting the free movement of the runners C, the latter will be prevented from being thrown over out of their places.

F is a hand-lever for overturning the facedsecured at or near the innermost end of the pole vD, Vand extends rearwardly through a slot, a4, formed in the afterpart of the faceboard and its back-piece. Said lever has in its' lower edge a notch, f, which engages with a catch-bar, a5, fixed across the slot a* in such manner that the lever F will retain the faceboard A in its required angular position while receiving the pin f', wherebythe lever F is attached to said bracket, and, by shifting said pin into the dierent holes of said bracket, the angularity of the face-board A may be readily changed as occasion requires.

G is a roller arranged. in the upper part of the slot a,i for .the purpose of facilitating the" operation of overturning the face-board A by means of the hand-lever F in the manner hereinafter described.

My scraper operates in the following mannerz The p arts' being in the positions shown. by the full lines of Fig. 1, and the horses being attached to the pole D, the scraper is drawn forward untila sufficient load of snow is collected on the face-board A. Then the lever F is raised far enough to disengage its notch f from'the catch-bar c5, thereby releasing the hold of said lever from the face-board A, and permitting the latter to drop into the position indicated by the dotted lines of Fig. l, where stirrup, E, is fixed to the under side of the pole D, and passes vunderneath the cross-loar `flexible joint between said pole and the facey board A. Said lever is pivoted to a bracket, Y

it is performing its work in scraping.. The bracket d2 is providedwith several holes for IOO the weight of it and its load will bear entirely upon the runners B, and while in this condition it can easily be dra-wn to the dumpingground. Thereupon the lever F is raised up, and by its continued movement the face-board A is thrown over into the position indicated by the dotted lines of Fig. 3, to eect the du mping of the load therefrom. In effecting the dumping movement of the faee-board A, the lover F will bear against the roller G, whereby the friction will be greatly lessened. Vhile the parts are in the positions indicated by the dotted lines of Fig. 3, wherein the whole weight of the apparatus will be borne upon the runners C, and while in this position it will be drawn back to the ice-field, and then the face-board A will be restored to the position first described, on. attaining which the notch f will re-engagc with the catch-bar a5 and the apparatus will be ready for a repetition of the operation described.

Vhen preferred the runners C may be dispensed with, and when so constructed the weight of the apparatus, when the face-board A is turned over to ciieet the dumping, will 25 rest upon the end pieces, c', which will then serve as runners.

I claim as my inventionl. In a snow-scraper, the combination, with a face-board, A, and tongue D, hinged to said face-board, and provided with a lever, F, adapted to engage with the face-board A, substantially as described, of the runners C, pivotally connected to the face-board A, all being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as herein specified.

2. Ina snow-scraper, the combination, with a face-board, A, provided with the runners B, or their described equivalents, of the tongue D, hinged to said face-board, and a lever, F, fulcrumed to said tongue and adapted t0 secure the face-board A in its angular position, and `to effect the dumping movement of said face-board, substantially as herein specified.

GEORGE A. BIRCH.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. Low, J. S. GRoUNns. 

